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The AFC Champions League, also known as the Asian Champions League, is an Asian club football tournament founded by the AFC in 2002, which was formerly known as the Asian Championship Club Tournament and the Asian Club Championship. ?
The AFC Champions League is the highest level of Asian club football, equivalent to the European Champions League in Europe and the South American Libertadores Cup in South America, higher than the AFC Cup. The winning team will represent the AFC in the FIFA Club World Cup.
The top 12 teams in the "Asian Games Points" have the places to directly participate in the group stage, and the remaining 12 group stage places will be generated through preliminaries and play-offs. The winning team will represent the AFC in the FIFA Club World Cup held in1February that year.
The first competition (that is, the AFC Champions League in 2002/03 season) was held in different years, and the previous AFC Champions League was completed in the same natural year. In February, 2022, the AFC officially announced that the AFC Champions League would resume its New Year's Eve system from 2023, and the number of foreign aid places would increase from "3+ 1" to "5+ 1" from the 2023/24 season.
On May 6, 2023, in the second round of the AFC Champions League final, Puhe Red Diamond Football Club 1-0 defeated Saudi Crescent Football Club and won the AFC Champions League in 2022 with a total score of 2- 1. This is the third time in the history of Puhe Red Diamond Team to win the AFC Champions League. From the beginning of the 2024-2025 season, AFC Champions League and AFC Cup were replaced by AFC Champions League, AFC Second League and AFC Challenge League.